Duplicity
by Shade Penn
Summary: Sequel to Goodbye. When Megatron finds out what Starscream kept from him, he goes on a warpath. Elsewhere though, Starscream goes back to see that secret again.
1. Chapter 1

It had only been one solar cycle since Starscream had been captured by the Autobot scum and already his room was being raided. If I could roll my optics, I would. He never remembered to lock the doors, it was the reason Will had always gotten into so many enclosed spaces around the base instead of being in his room.

Why had I just thought of Will then? He was dead, being gone so long that it had become a very real possibility. I had mourned in my own way, and got over it; Starscream, eventually, got over it too. Though he had taken it much harder since he and Will had always been close.

Whenever he needed help, he went to his Carrier.

Whenever he needed someone to speak to, _he went to his Carrier._

He never came to see me or even spoke to me unless he had too. Starscream had said that since _I_ was never around Will, he just gave up trying, and was happy enough being around the one Creator that wanted him.

Superficially, I had just wanted an heir to be prepared in case one of my _mate's_ schemes actually worked. Not that I ever saw that happening now. On a deeper level I _had_ always wanted a sparkling of my own, and when Starscream had come to me carrying a small being in his servo, I had carefully concealed my reaction to seeing Will for the first time.

It did explain though where Starscream had disappeared to just after the meeting earlier that cycle. When I had told him I was going to claim Will to be Allspark born, he had looked so incensed that it actually reminded me of _why_ I had found him attractive in the first place.

I was interrupted from my thoughts when Soundwave walked over carrying a datapad. "What is it, Soundwave?"

His recording spoke in a voice that had everyone else in the room freezing up. **_"What is it, Soundwave?"_**

Though the irony was not lost on me, the voice threatened to bring up emotions I had long kept buried. It was my son's voice after all. "You had better have a good reason for using _that_ voice." I growled.

Soundwave silently handed me the datapad and I gave it a cursory glance, wondering why I was looking at thi-

_In conclusion and the overwhelming evidence, I have determined that my sparkling is on this mudball planet. In an organic form no less. Ha! I have finally been able to do something Megatron never had, I had been able to find Will._

Will was here.

Will was here and Starscream _knew_.

All this time, Starscream knew, _and he didn't tell me!_

**_"CURSE YOU STARSCREAM!_"**

* * *

><p>I didn't care so much for the fact I was causes random mayhem, all I wanted was the Autobots attention. I had of my officers stay put as I wanted to handle this alone, that and none of them must know that Will is actually <em>here<em>.

All this time…

Again I cursed Starscream for his treachery. He knew, he _knew_, and he said _nothing_.

I could bet credits that he was always laughing at me behind my back, and whenever he looked at me, he always seemed a little _too_ smug. Now though I knew why. Yes, we have our differences, but didn't I deserve to know that the sparkling we made was still functioning?

Then again, if what was written down was true, then it meant Will _had_ taken on an organic mate and had a techno-organic daughter, somehow. Never before have I thought _that_ was possible.

While I would never accept the human, the child of my child was still part _me_. And that merited _some_ sliver of acceptance, and for some unfathomable reason it was written down that Will was actually _happy_ here.

_Here_, on this primitive planet, pretending to be one of these primitive earthlings.

If he's still anything like before though, Will wouldn't depart from this planet without a fight.


	2. Chapter 2

"What is your business here-"

I was really in no mood to do the usual 'pleasantries' and I just cut straight to the 'chase' as it were. "Where is he?"

"What?" Prime questioned.

"Don't play stupid with me, where is my traitorous second?" I demanded.

"He's not here-" The femme tried to say, but I cut her off.

"Did he get you all to say that?" I shot back. "Just like him, he didn't tell me that Will is here, but he must have told you all." I spat.

Prime had gotten very still. "Will is here?"

I then realized that Starscream probably _wasn't_ here. And that I had just said a very foolish thing. I had just carelessly given away information regarding my son. Which the Autobots now knew, or only Prime knew.

Before I could retort, I received a that Starscream's signal had been picked up. Well, now I could go wring his neck and get him to explain himself. I left the Autobot scum wanting an explanation that I had no intention of giving them.

Let their Prime give them the roundabout explanation of who my son was-_is_.

To me though, he's still a defiant little brat. Always questioning me when his Carrier was around, then again to him it was more like he was trying to be a _helpful little brat_.

I followed my mate's signal as the bond between us had been blocked. Now _both_ bonds had been blocked, making me think those two were alike in more ways than one. Treachery though, had always been his Carrier's forte thankfully.

I didn't need _two_ backstabbers to deal with.

I found the traitor kneeling down in the dirt in front of a human domicile, three humans in front of them. The femme human was most likely Will's _mate_, the male was most definitely my son; I'd recognize those optics anywhere, and the little femme-_something_ he was holding looked like the mate, only with Will's optics.

That must have been the techno-organic.

"_Starscream you traitor!_" I yelled as I transformed and landed.

Both Starscream and Will looked at me with the same expressions of such abject horror that I didn't find their terror amusing at all in this situation. It only showed how much they _didn't_ want to see me.

"Sire! What are you doing here?" Will questioned handing his techno-organic child to his mate and moved to stand in front of them.

"I had come to deal with your Carrier for lying to me about you being alive, but here I find you two conversing." I said darkly. "Don't stop talking on my account, by all means, _continue_."

The traitor flinched and tried to back away, but I grabbed a hold of his arm.

"Hey, Carrier's done nothing wrong, well, about this anyway." Will said irritated.

"Nothing wrong?" I repeated with an incredulous note in my vocalizer. "He kept your existence here a _secret_. I thought that all this time you were dead!"

"Well I'm not as you can plainly see." Will shot back in that typical cheeky manner.

"Don't get smart with me, _sparkling_." I retorted and diverted my attention back to Starscream. "What exactly we're you expecting to gain by keeping this information from me."

"Great, so now I'm just a piece of information?" Will muttered, but I paid no heed to it.

"We, I knew Will would not act as calm as he is now if he knew that _you_ knew he was here." Starscream replied hastily.

"Are you saying that you had _never_ intended to tell me that Will was here?" I questioned in a dangerously low voice as I raised my hand.

I paused as a rock hit the side of my helm.

I looked over to Will. "Did you just throw a rock at me, youngling?" I hissed.

It was his mate that spoke up though. "No, I did." She said adamantly. "I may not know all about you Decepticons, but I know what abuse looks like."

I lowered my hand and glowered at her, though she didn't flinch away.

If she were not hiding behind my heir, I would have squashed her then and here.


	3. Chapter 3

"What did you just say?" I growled.

"I said you were abusive." The femme snapped glaring at me. She certainly had a lot of gall as she was hiding behind the one being I _wouldn't_ crush. And perhaps the sparkling, but I'll still have to think on that. "It takes a real mech to be able to hurt their mate in front of their creation." She said sarcastically, but there was a disgusted edge in her voice.

I really didn't like this femme.

"Come out here and say that." I retorted and saw Starscream trying to move away again, but I grabbed his arm again to keep him grounded.

"Alright then I will." The femme retorted, but Will stopped her.

At least he was still smart even after all this time he's been here.

"Enough of this." Will said angrily. "Why are you even here? It can't be just to round up Carrier." For a split second, there was a hopeful lit in his voice before it was squashed at the end of the sentence.

"It…wasn't." I admitted. "I had to see if you really _were_ still online for myself. Since _someone_ had continually failed to mention that you were here." I gave my _mate_ a glare.

"He already said his reasoning, so lay off!" Will snapped. "Why are you always beating him up?"

"Will, do you not _know_ who this is?" I questioned in irritation.

"Of course I do." Will replied seriously. "I know who he is and what he's capable of doing, but unlike you I know that the only good I have in me is from him."

I couldn't stop myself from laughing at the sheer absurdity of Will's statement. "Starscream, _good_?" I laughed more even as Will glared at me. "Truly being here on this mudball has warped your programming. I didn't raise you to be some Autobotish idealist, I raised you to be my heir."

"You didn't raise me all!" Will snapped suddenly.

There was a pause as I stared at him incredulously.

I didn't raise him at all? Is that what he just said? I may not have been there all the time, but _I_ certainly don't think I was neglectful. "_You_ were the one who didn't want to interact and preferred to spend time with your Carrier." I retorted sharply.

"Yes, because he was _there_." Will emphasized slowly in a mocking manner. "You on the other hand were never really there unless you wanted me to learn something that has to do with 'being your heir' and not interested in learning about _me_."

"What did you expect from me, to be a parent?" I retorted and I suddenly remembered what 'parent' meant. "Ah, right." I muttered and Starscream snickered but was silenced with a glare.

"Exactly my point." Will muttered.

I relented, just a _little bit_ though and forced myself to say words I hadn't said in a very long time to _either_ my sparkling _or_ mate. "I…_do_ care about you though."

"Well you have a funny way of showing it though, don't you?" Will questioned rhetorically, but then he looked behind me and had a looked of incredulity and annoyance.

I was oddly reminded of myself, but nonetheless _glad_ at least some of my programming was showing in Will.

"Indeed he does."

Both Starscream and I froze up at the voice and we looked behind us to see four Autobots. How... oh, right, this was _my_ fault. Not that I was going to admit this though. "Prime!"


	4. Chapter 4

The four Autobots were in varying fighting stances and I saw the femme looking at Starscream with a particularly angered expression. It might have had something to do with the fact he'd killed her partner that I heard about, but I couldn't be sure.

Prime looked down at my 'human' son. "Will?"

"Oh great, he remembers me." I heard Will mutter darkly before his voice rose. "Hello, Prime, what the slag are you Autobots doing on my property?"

"You are not surprised to see us?" Prime questioned and I was surprised at that myself.

I heard a snort from behind me. "No, I'm in the military; in my rank I was given _clearance_ to know about you all." He said derisively.

Will was in the human military? What valuable information he could have gathered.

"And yet we did not know about you being here first, Will." Prime replied sardonically.

"No duh." I saw Will roll his 'human' optics. "Considering it took all this time for Carrier to find me, I'm surprised I managed to stay hidden long as I did."

"Carrier?" The muscle of the group said in surprise.

I saw Will cringe and felt satisfaction that this time it was not _my_ fault information that the enemy didn't need to know got out. Even though Will had been missing all this time, he was still a Decepticon-whether he liked it or not.

"Force of habit doesn't mean a thing." Will said hastily. "But you still haven't answered my question; why are you trespassing on my property?"

"I don't see you getting angry about the 'Cons being here." The femme retorted.

"That's because they're my Creators, they can come here," I saw the pointed look Will gave me that I promptly ignored, "even if I don't want them too."

Being ever the peace-loving fool he was, Prime tried to be the voice of reason. "Will, we had no intention of disrupting your current life, though your Creators must still be detained as they are dangerous Decepticons."

"You do really _I'm_ a dangerous Decepticon, right?" Will questioned dryly.

"Yes honey, but you have a heart." The human femme said patting Will on the shoulder.

I looked down at the femme with a glare. "What did you say femme?" I growled. "Just because you're mated with my son don't think I won't squash if I have the chance."

The human femme merely glared back at me. I _really_ didn't like this femme; she was painfully reminding me of my own shortcomings. The ones I had acknowledged at some point when I tried not to think about how I _had_ no shortcomings.

The fact she was a human just made me hate her on principle. Had she been a Cybertronian, well, I probably _still_ would have hated her.

My grip had slackened in my shock to allow Starscream to free himself and he took to the skies, bolting as quickly as he could. "Come back here you fool!" I shouted after him and changed into my own jet form before following after him.

"Unbelievable!" I heard Will shout in frustration, but I paid no attention to the yell.

I continued following Starscream and when he wouldn't stop, I did the next logical thing to get him to stop flying and land.

I shot him.

It was a quick decision thing, and hey, it got him to land anyway. Though he did look incredibly angry as he held his arm.

"You _shot_ me!" he screeched.

_"You_ wouldn't stop flying." I retorted. "And it's not like you aren't used to it." I added offhandedly.

Starscream glowered at me. "There were Autobots and _you_ being there was bad enough as it was." He muttered.

"And what, pray tell, does _that_ mean?" I questioned my tone dangerously calm.

It seemed running away was starting to give my treacherous second something of a back strut. "It means that you likely damaged the relation I was trying to rebuild with my sparkling."

"Our sparkling." I added nonplussed.

"You were never there; you don't _get_ to call him that." Starscream sneered. "I, on the other hand, _was_ at least. Unfortunately it wasn't enough to stop you from driving him away."

I felt the energon begin to boil in my lines, and while I was tempted to shoot him again, that _was_ part of the reason it had caused my mate to try and distance himself from me. And failing that subsequently turned to plotting my demise to get back at me.

I suddenly had an epiphany though. "Dear Unicron, is this really what our relationship has withered down too?"

My mate rolled his optics at me. "_Duh_."


	5. Chapter 5

I felt my processor go through all my previous encounters and found that right after Will had ran away that Starscream spent all his time trying to kill me for 'driving our sparkling away' and I spent them beating him or shooting him in retaliation.

And while I _hated_ that human femme who _dared_ to entrap my son, she was _partly_ right. The relationship between my mate and I wasn't exclusively abusive on my part, rather, we were _both_ mutually destructive with regards to the other.

Will leaving had just been the catalyst for our 'issues' to take it out on each other as even before Will had left we'd been at odds.

"We used to care about each other." The seeker stated quietly and I looked at him. "Not in that sickening Autobot way, but we still _cared_." He added and looked away. "And now we don't."

The words were flat and resigned, and I knew this to be true.

And while I certainly don't _like_ humans, they did have words to describe situations that were foreign to a Cybertronian. This situation sounded a lot like the word 'divorce,' when two are at odds and cannot overcome their issues with the other.

And while our bond will always keep us connected, it _does_ still have a block. And I'm sure that Will isn't going to be all that surprised by this. He must have seen it long before either of _us_ did.

And really, our sparkling was the only thing that we still each cared about. And while I definitely don't condone the act of Will being with a human, he _does_ seem happy.

That and he's still a Decepticon at least.

"You're right," I stated and Starscream looked floored, "we don't care about each other anymore, but we left Will with those Autobots."

Something crossed the seeker's faceplate, and he scowled. "Perhaps this 'one last time' we could…cooperate."

I nodded. "Yes, cooperate." I agreed and we both took to the air and flew back to where we had left Will to fend for himself.

When we arrived back, we saw that our hast to return had been for nothing as the Autobots were already gone. "Where are the Autobots?" Starscream questioned.

"Oh, they left." Will replied nonchalantly as I saw that both his mate and sparkling were gone, probably having returned to that domicile of theirs.

"When?" I questioned.

"Some time after you both left." Will replied shortly.

"Speak in complete sentences, and not in points." Starscream reprimanded him.

"So says the stalker." Will shot back.

"I thought we were past that." Starscream replied narrowing his optics.

"We are." Will said once again speaking in point form before he smiled briefly. "They left after you left because I threatened them to get off my property or I'd report them to my superiors in the military."

"Sneaky, even if you're not in charge of this military faction." I said.

Will rolled his eyes. "I can't be in charge, it'd be too suspicious, and then I'd never have time to spend with my mate and sparkling. And after how my own child hood was, I'm not letting that happen with my family."

"Must you bring that up?" I questioned rubbed one servo against my helm.

"Yes, I must." Will snapped. "I wasn't willing to speak so vulgarly in front of my child, but you were a slagging awful Sire! You never spent any fragging time with me and always kept me at arms-length! The organic Sire had I was more of a father to me than you'd _ever_ be!"

I stared down at him, filing away the fact he'd had organic adoptive creators, and felt the split of jealously develop in my spark. "You dare compare an organic to me?"

"Oh, I dare!" Will snarled.

"You insolent little whelp, I should take you over my knee for that, and _where_ is your _real_ body so I can do just that?" I retorted.

"You'll never find it." Will replied crossing his arms.

I looked at Starscream, figuring that since he had found Will he must have found his real body. "Never found it." He said.

"Look at your memories, you know what I'm saying is true." Will added darkly.

I did just that and noticed that aside from the assignments I gave him, I was never really around him, always distant; despite the actual joy I had felt at having a sparkling. "I suppose…I was never always there for you." I said reluctantly.

Will let out a frustrated sound. "And we come full circle."


	6. Chapter 6

My admission hung in the air even after Will had said his sarcastic retort. It was one of those things that once you said it, it could never be _unsaid_.

Funny how most of the things I've said previously are just that.

"Well," Will began again, this time his voice sounding much more serious, "at least you're starting to make progress."

"After vorns of pushing it all back it's surprisingly he hasn't snapped already." I heard Starscream mutter to himself. "Although maybe you already did with the whole 'injecting Unicron's dark energon into your lines'."

Will looked up at me in disbelief, and I felt another urge coming on to strike Starscream once more. The sparkling had always been so…_open_ with his emotions that the rest of the troops thought of it as a weakness. But I've seen that he can _hide_ his emotions just as well.

He certainly hid just how angry he was with me and his Carrier until the orn he 'snapped' per say and flew off.

"You injected yourself with _dark energon_? Are you insane?" he paused and shook his head. "Look who I'm talking to."

I glared down at him. "Yes, I get it." He snapped. "And we have more important thing to be discussing right now."

"He's right," Starscream said grudgingly, "like how much of an inadequate Creator he was compared to me."

I _really_ felt the need to strike him, but curbed my anger. "Yes, though I _loath_ to admit it."

Will nodded, wisely not saying anything smug at this point. "This is a very good start." He said sounding genuinely optimistic about this.

I didn't know whether to agree with him or purge wondering if he knew how much of an Autobot he was being right now.

Then again I knew enough about him to know that he'd take the comparison as an insult and most likely wasn't even _aware_ of how he was acting,

So I chose to word it in another way. "Stop acting like, Prime!"

Will still looked offended anyway. "Don't say that! I'm nothing like him!"

I didn't say anything, and surprisingly neither did Starscream.

Will shifted uncomfortably on his 'human' pedes that were called 'feet.' "Anyway," he pressed on, "how are things between you two?" his expression turned to one of disgust, the look commonly seen on any sparkling when asking about their parents relation and what they might do.

And it seemed he was trying very hard not to think about it either.

Though I still wouldn't be me if I didn't take advantage of this and reached around my mate's waist and pulled him closer to me, the disgust on Will's face steadily grew, a touch of horror also crossing it when he spoke. "Things are faring very well and we just need a private spot to 'patch things up some more'."

Will turned away as he covered his 'human' audios. "I'm so not hearing this, I'm so not hearing this, I'm…" he muttered to himself.

After getting over his initial surprise, Starscream pushed me back before kneeling down close to Will. "It's not true, none of its true."

Will paused in his muttering and peered up at his Carrier. "Really? I'm not more scarred than I already am?" Starscream shook his helm and Will let out a relieved sigh. "Oh thank Primus, I thought you two were really gonna…_do_ something right here." He paused and glanced back at his home. "In front of my house."

I rolled my optics. "Will, don't be ridiculous; if we did it we wouldn't even bother giving you a warning."

The look of horror came back over Will's face again and he quickly looked up at Starscream again. "Tell me he's joking."

My mate paused before looking at me in consideration. "_Maybe_."

I raised an optic ridge as Will gagged and covered his face before his form flickered out of existence. "Is that an invitation?"

The seeker grinned as he stood back up. "Like I said, _maybe_. Because even though we're on a bit of a long-standing rough patch doesn't mean we can't _eventually_ work it out, _right?_"

In spite of the heavy things I'd have to come to accept, I found myself starting to grin back. "That is correct." I said chuckling. "And to think I'd came here to kill you."

Starscream waved it off. "Considering everything else that's been happening, that doesn't surprise me much."

I knew it would take more than this one meeting to try and rekindle things, but this also didn't mean we couldn't have _fun_ trying and seeing where it went.


End file.
